T
ES
T I N G I was always happy with my X-Maxx in its original 6S configuration, and felt it easily exceeded expectations for an electric- powered truck of its size and weight.

But more is more, and in the case of the

8S-equipped X-Maxx, a 29 percent boostin voltage makes the truck 100 percentmore fun. I didn’t mess around, and wentfor a full-throttle drag run down the streetas soon as I strapped in a pair of 4-cellpacks. ;e truck absolutely threw thefront end into the air and tore away onthe wheelie bar. Traxxas got the wheeliebar’s flex right, so it doesn’t bounce therear tires, and the X-Maxx will keep awheelstand going as long as you careto stay on the trigger. You don’tneed to start from a standstillto wheelie, either. Evenwhen you’re alreadyrolling, a fullsqueezeof the trigger will pull the front end up.

What you won’t see is those front wheels
ballooning, thanks to that center-drive
unit. Power delivery is well distributed.

Even in loose dirt with 8S tugging at the
tires, the new center-drive unit keeps all
four wheels digging instead of dumping to
the pair with the least traction. And man,
this thing can move some dirt! Your o;-road spot is going to look freshly plowed
after an 8S driving session. In severe
terrain that worked the old power system
hard and bled o; speed, the 8S-powered
X-Maxx just keeps on blasting. Roosts are
incredible, speeds are deep into white-knuckle territory, and the terrain the truck
can overcome with sheer horsepower
is truly impressive (Traxxas Stability
Management helps, of course—turn it
up for the rough stu;). At 45mph on the
included 15T pinion, the truck is faster on
8S than it needs to be (for me, anyway),
but if you must go faster, you can gear
for 50+mph with the included 18 T “speed
pinion.” Expect shorter run time, however,
and reserve the speed gearing for hard
surfaces. With “all-around” gearing and
a mix of speed running and o;-roading, I
had no trouble getting half an hour out of
the 6700mAh LiPos Traxxas includes in the
“completer pack” o;ered for the truck.

FINAL WORD

No matter how much you like your X-Maxx on 6S, you’re going to love it even more on 8S. It’s like driving a 500hp car versus a 300hp car (lucky
you if you can identify with that analogy). When “plenty” is just enough and “ridiculous” is what you’re really after, eight cells in an X-Maxx is just
what you need. ;e experience is kind of like driving an 1/8-scale monster truck (say, an E-Revo) on 6S but with way more control, thanks to
the X’s bigger footprint and increased mass. You get all the fun of bonkers torque and over-the-top power, in a truck that can really put it to the
ground—and do it all day. Traxxas says they put hundreds of hours into testing to make sure the speed control and drivetrain beef-ups were up to
the hardcore abuse they know monster truckers like to dish out. After installing the parts and thrashing on them myself, I’m confident I won’t be
turning a wrench on my truck anytime soon (outside of regular maintenance) as I log my own hours with the 8S X-Maxx. —Peter Vieira ✇